Sunday, September 9, 2012

Lamb Biryani - Rosh HaShana 5773 Indian Style

Every year as Rosh HaShana, The Jewish New Year, rolled in, my mom
used to make this lamb biryani as a celebratory dish. The lamb was fork tender and still gorgeous pinkish inside, even
after cooking for an hour and a half. Traditionally my mom adds potatoes into the dish, but I did not include them. The dish ages well over time, but potatoes are
best when freshly cooked, not the next day or two. My mom also uses
4-5 chiles in this recipes but I toned it down. This particular version
is super authentic even with the minor tweaks, directly from my mom's
kitchen.

Traditionally we cook the rice al dente by boiling it like pasta, draining, and then layering as you will see in the recipe. The entire layered biryani then is put on a low heat stove, with the lid on. The rice cooks further to perfection by the steam. In recent years my mom cooks the rice fully first as instructed in this recipe then layers it. That way you have the option to serve this dish deconstructed, each component on its own, if you wish. It is also a full proof method if you are a novice. You don't run into an issue of burning the bottom or risking the rice not being fully cooked. The flavors of every component come together in the Biryani in complete harmony with either method.

I am very happy this Lamb Biryani was featured today, online, and this past Thursday, September 6, in print, in The Jewish Daily Forward's quarterly Food and Drink pull out section. You might remember I wrote about Indian Shakshuka among other articles, for the Jewish Forward's online food blog in the past, The Jew and the Carrot. Read the article with a bit of history of the dish and a full detailed recipe with fried cilantro, as a garnish, one of my mom's ingenious touches.

Iwould like totake this opportunityto wishall ofmy family, friends and readers,Jewish ornot, alike, Shana Tova Oo Metooka,שנה טובה ומתוקהA Good and a Sweet New Year. a Happy 5773to you all!

43 comments
:

How lovely! Always amazed at the different versions of biryani from all over the world. The biryani I remember from childhood in Malaysia has a lot more tumeric in the rice, making it much yellower. But I think i will like your mum's version of full proof method against burning the rice at the bottom. Happy new year to you!!

Looks grand Shulie! We usually make chicken biryani, in fact I don't remember ever tasting lamb biryani. Its quite a rarity to see this type of meat hear around. I like the fact that your biryani is uncolored. I wouldn't mind some natural turmeric, but thats all. Cant stand when biryanis are green and red, looks artificial then.

I would probably just go as far as adding turmeric to it but no further. So flavorful the combination as it is. In India they made it with mutton (as my mom refers to goat). We always made it with lamb or mutton. Rarely with chicken. Good point on availability.

I love Biryani and had different versions of it, my favorite is Maysoor biryani, I thought I've seen all types of biryany but yours look wow! I smiled when I saw it because you have pleasantly surprised me :)

What an absolutely gorgeous dish to celebrate with! Loved your comment on my blog-So good to hear from you :-) P.S. Have you been to Georgetown Cupcakes? My daughter's new favorite show is DC Cupcakes. She's hoping dad {who is on business right now in DC, will pick up a few cupcakes to bring home to her :-0

TY EA. No I haven't line is always around the corner. Also must admit I am not a cupcake aficionado, but I love the art of the frosting. I hope your hubs snags few for your daughter espc. since she watches the show.:) I know kids absolutely love them.

I love biryani with any thing (veggie, shrimp, chicken or lamb) but my most favourite one would be with lamb. Infact my next post is my motherinlaw's chettinad lamb biryani. The recipe is little different from yours and I am loving those pretty pictures. I am sure everyone would have loved it so much and if you managed to save some, try tasting it the next day. It's much more tasty the following day.

This looks so good Shulie. I think your mom has some great recipe for you to share with us and I'm ready for them all...I mean ready to try them all from you cooking them. Happy and sweet New Year to you too. :)

Living in Europe has made me realize and discover all of the customs of different Jewish cultures that i never knew existed. I love dipping into other cuisines for holiday meals; And as I told you on twitter, I have been wanting to make a Biryani for years. Your lamb biryani looks amazingly good.